1. The cost involved was significant, we had a CSO working in conjunction with the Commonwealth Police for almost three months full time.
2. While not a criticism of our staff, people lost sight of the ball, the chase became the most important aspect of the whole exercise.
3. Catching Hackers (and charging them) is almost impossible, you have to virtually break into their premises and catch them logged on to an unauthorised machine.
4. If you do happen to catch and charge them, the cost of prosecution is high, and a successful outcome is by no ways assured. There may be some deterrent value in at least catching and prosecuting?
5. Continued pursuit of people involved requires doors to be left open, this unfortunately exposes other sites and has subjected us to some criticism.
The whole issue is very complex, and in some respects it is a case of diminishing returns. A fine balance has to be maintained between freedom, and the prevention of abuse, this appears to be the challenge.
Allan Young
RMIT
`Yeah, I mean, this RMIT guy is basically saying they are not going to catch us anyway, so why are they wasting all this time and money?'
`Yep. The Feds were in there for at least three months,' Prime Suspect said. `Sounded more like nine months though.'